that's awesome

Snoop Dogg has a dog named Cindy.

honeymoon ideas

Well, we found a dj. I now feel like the big, necessary vendors have been chosen. We now need a form of transportation and...a honeymoon! This has been pretty fun for me so far because I love planning trips. Even when I have no trip on the horizon, I like to go to tripadvisor.com or frommers.com and check out places I'd want to go and plan fake trips. Its great. For real, it is. For our honeymoon, we initially thought going to an all inclusive resort was the obvious choice. Neither of us have ever been to one and the relaxation, beach, cocktails, having nothing to do aspect of them was very appealing. The problem here lies in the date of our wedding: August 9th, the beginning of hurricane season. Now, normally I don't think this would worry me or concern me much. However, we got stuck in Florida a couple years ago during a hurricane and my friend's honeymoon got all messed up last year because of hurricanes. So basically, I just don't want to take our chances with anything southern and/or carribean. **tears streaming down my face** This has led me to some creative thinking and I have come up with some alternate plans. Our only requirements is that it is a place neither of us has been and will offer relaxation and ideally an ocean. So I bring you our options:

1. Central California: Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur

I have wanted to go to Big Sur ever since I saw that episode of Six Feet Under when Brenda and Nate get married on a cliff there. SO beautiful! I've done some extensive research on this area. All three of these cities, along with Pacific Beach and Pebble Beach are very close to one another and are usually visited in one trip when people vacation there. The area is very quaint and rich with artists, has a couple state parks and reserves, beaches, cute little boardwalks, restaurants, shops and beautiful scenery. We would stay in Monterey or Carmel, spend a couple days probably just lounging on the beach and relaxing. We'd have a couple nice dinners and we would take one day to travel to Big Sur spend the day checking it out (it's about a half hour away I think). Aside from these pics, I have seen plenty of peeps chillin on the beach also, which is probably what we would spend most of our time doing.

Pros: beautiful area, no weather issues to worry about.

Cons: Might not be the relaxing trip we are looking for if we end up seeing a lot of the sights.

Cannery Row - In Monterey (The ocean is right in the distance)

Carmel-by-the-Sea - cute paths right on the beach

Look how cute these little shops are in Carmel...I can't stand it!

A view of coastal Big Sur

2. Palm Springs

I know, I know, it will be HOT there in August (Avg high = 107, Avg low = 76). But!! I feel like as I read about it, it is like Vegas without all the craziness and contant stimulation. There are huge resorts with tons of pools and restaurants, like Vegas, which I love. There are outlet malls, golf courses, casinos, spas, etc. It is loaded with Hollywood history (love that stuff) and every Thursday night they have this thing alled Village Fest where there are musicians, food, arts and crafts vendors, and a Farmers Market. It kind of sounds like the sunset celebration on Mallory Square in Key West. ..and we loved that. This also happens to be the home of the Viceroy...the hotel where the most out of control coordinated wedding took place that I saw on theknot.

Pros: It will be the off season, so the rates are great. It will be the ultimate in relaxation. The closest to what an all inclusive would offer I think...without the ocean and the unlimited food and booze.

Cons: The weather. Not near an ocean.

You can take a tram ride through Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Coachella Valley, Mt San Jacinto's Chino Canyon, etc. I will note that these tram/ski lift things are my least favorite things in the world. I feel as though at any minute, it will fall off the cable and I will fall to my death. I will however, force myself to do this if we did the honeymoon here.

This is the Marriott resort, which I guess is the most expansive of the resorts (and yes, I mean expansive, not expensive)

3. SoCal - The O.C (Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach)

Not going to lie...MTV had a huge impact on this decison. Who is going to tell me that Laguna Beach and Newport Beach don't look adorable though?! Remember the views from LC's house?? Yes, it was awesome. Besides the slim chance I could run into a Laguna Beach High School alum, this area also has a lot of shops, restaurants, art galleries (not sure if I even really love art galleries though)and great beaches.

Pros: Great beaches. Quaint towns.

Cons: May involve a lot of driving, might not be very relaxing.

Laguna Beach

Newport Beach - another cute little beach town like Laguna, only Newport is part of the Balboa Penuinsula and close to Balboa Island and Catalina Island. Balboa Island is where the frozen banana stand was located on Arrested Development...and that is the only reason why I know of Balboa Island...and now I think I need to read more books. It is a hip and cool beach town with trendy cafes and surf shops. We could rent tandem bikes and take them for a spin. Oh! and good news! Summer is the best time to visit Newport Beach apparently. The beach crowd is relatively small because the peninsula is located somewhat off the beaten track. The car traffic is minimal also, which makes for great bike travel. Riding along the boardwalk is fun and a great way to check out some of the most expensive real estate in Southern California.

Catalina is described a quaint island escape in the Pacific, framed by crystal-clear waters, picturesque beaches and rolling foothills, boutiques, galleries, etc. The island can be toured by golf cart, which would also remind me of Key West.

Newport Beach

Balboa Island

Catalina Island

Huntington Beach is known as "surf city", it has a great beach with that famous Municipal pier that kind of reminds me of the Santa Monica pier. I am sure we would just spend the days here parked on the beach watching the surfers.

And another shot of the beach during a surfing competition...

So, what do you think? Been to any of these places? Recommend or not recommend any? Any suggestions I might not have thought of? I'd love some input.

love

Went to Chili's for dinner. Its kind of a Friday night tradition in our little 2 person family. Barney joined us tonight though. Chips and salsa, Chicken fajita pita, diet coke. love.

Saw Juno. LOVE!

Now, Jon is making me homemade popcorn. LOVE LOVE (him and the popcorn).

hate

This crunchy, cold, dry snow, is like nails on a chalkboard to me. When I drive through it and walk in it, I cringe at the noise it makes and the way it feels under my feet. Like I said...hate.

I would like it to warm up so that it melts, please. Thanks much.

kanye's new workout plan

Since we moved into our apartment, we have been pretty sporadic in our usage of the apartment complex fitness facilities. We go in spurts when we are pretty good about going...but nothing like we have been in the last two weeks! Jon outfitted himself with some new shoes last week and he is a new man. He wants to use them all the time and it's great! They are pretty sweet, I must say...and light as a feather! I tried on the same in the women's version, but didn't get them because mine still have some wear left to them. But I digress...we have gone to the gym 4 times this week! Each time really pushing it and feeling like we did a good job.

So what did we do today?

Well, after such a great week, we treated our sore bodies to a day of laying around, watching tv and eating steak and potatoes. whoops. oh well! As much as we really want to feel more fit (and to lose some weight for that wedding in August, let's be honest), I know we are going to have a hard time changing our eating habits. Baby steps....baby steps.

so beautious

I really want to wear a fun pair of shoes with my wedding dress...no white pumps for this lady. I found these today on a website that said they were available on Piperlime. So I figured if they were on that website, they must be affordable and I had to have them....

...and then I saw the price. I think I actually said "oh good lord." Since when does Piperlime sell shoes this expensive?! I thought this was a Gap company.

Needless to say, the search will continue.

O Christmas Tree

This Christmas had special meaning...with the engagement and all. We put up the Christmas tree together on the night we got engaged and last night we took it down. awwww.

We also sent out a Christmas Card for the first time together this year. I thought it was appropriate since we wanted to announce our engagement anyway. I had an idea to do a photo booth type greeting. I thought this was a unique idea, but then as I was looking at different wedding blogs, it turns out a lot of other people have done this also. Oh well. So way back in the beginning of December, I set up a photo shoot in our living room and we took a ton of pictures. This was the end result:

...and here are some of my favorite outtakes

a month in pictures

About a month ago I got a new camera. I researched cameras for quite some time and finally went with the Canon Powershot SD850 IS. I got it because I have taken an interest in photography and would like to become better at taking pictures, but I wasn't quite ready to take the plunge into getting a DSLR quite yet. This one suits me just fine so far. Its got a lot of fun bells and whistles I've been trying out. I'm not very good yet, but it takes some decent pictures. Check it...

Here is little Madison curled up next to the fire.

Have you ever heard about how when an orb appears in a picture, it is actually a ghost/spirit? I wonder if that's true. If so...creepy. (this is Gina & Todd's tree)

Gina...preggers with a baby boy

The girls surprising me at dinner with champagne in celebration of the engagement.

...the message written on my plate. (note: the dulce de leche cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory is the best)

Jon was done with school back in August, but the graduation ceremony was in December.

facelift

I decided to give my dull blog a little facelift. It was looking like a sad, deprived child and now that I think I have a little more inspiration and reason to write, I wanted it to be somewhat interesting. I was trying to figure out how to do an all over background (that isn't just a color), but couldn't figure it out. If anyone knows how to do that, let me know!!

I also updated my blogroll because the last one was rather outdated.

The color scheme is what my world will revolve around for the next 8 months. We are going with black, white and green for our wedding colors. I love the starck contrast of the colors and hope to incorporate some patterns as well (maybe the damask as shown above...) There might be splashes of yellow also, but that is just an idea because there could be a fine line where it could look like a Packer wedding...which is obviously not what we would like.

Now that I know how to jazz this space up a little, I think I'll change it up often...just to keep everyone on their toes.

things are moving along

Wedding update.

The date is set for August 9, 2008. (08-09-08, I like the sound of it. Not as good at 08-08-08 would have been, but we didn't want to have a Friday wedding)

The church is reserved and we are meeting with the priest next month. We ended up going with St. Jude after getting rejected from a couple other places. I was sad for a second, but then decided that it will be sweet getting married at the place I grew up going to...and where Jon and I met! Yes, we met there at Gina and Todd's wedding rehearsal. It will be perfect.

We paid the deposit for the reception spot yesterday. I couldn't be happier with our location. Their prices are within our budget, the food is going to be delicious (Saz's, yum!), the location is great for both our Milwaukee and Madison guests and being on the golf course it is going to be beautiful.

I found a photographer. I think her pictures are stunning and she has great rates, which is great for our budget. I found her through this little blogosphere I lurk around in too!

Next on the agenda is a DJ...

the big news

It happens in the movies and you hear about it happening to other people all the time, but it actually happened to me! I am getting married!! On Saturday night, December 1st, as the snow was coming down and we were holed up in our apartment, Jon asked me to marry him! It has been a little over 4 years in the making, but was still a total surprise. Well, I guess it's wasn't a total surprise....we had both talked about getting married, we had discussed what kind of rings I would like and we live together for gosh sakes, but I had no idea when he would ask me. We are so flipping excited! So I guess it's time to get this show on the road...

Kerri's Wedding

Mrs. Hall and the work girls

10/20/07

30 year old graduate

Saturday we celebrated Jon turning 30 and graduating by having a party in his honor. I am SO proud of him for going back to school to get his bachelor's degree. It was not easy and it was a lot of work, but he did it! And well, you only turn 30 once, so a party was to be had. Coincidentally both things happened within about 2 weeks of each other too, so I sent out invitations to all his closest friends and family with this image on the front requesting their attendance:

Conveniently, his diploma came in the mail about 2 hours before the party started. So I framed it and added it to the decor for the day. It was a beautiful day. We watched the Badgers win, played some yard games, ate food, drank beer, walked to the bar at about midnight and managed to get home in one piece. It was a great time with great friends and family.

Birthday Children

30

Not 30

Still Lovestoned

A year later, I still can't get enough of it.

Summer 07

Memorial Day to Labor Day = the unofficial start and end of the summer.

For me, nicely bookended by Brewer games

May 07

Sept 07

graduate

9 hours old

Here he is!

uncle Jonnie

J.D.

Another family member was born this morning!

Jamison Douglas

8lbs 10oz.

20 inches.

We'll meet him later today...

a night out

Last night:

Went to Quinton's (pronounced kwin-ton's, NOT keen-ton's) with Shari and Nanc for some free beer sponsored by the Onion. Had some delicious Spin dip. Maybe the best I have had.

Saw a bum peeing on the street. He did not spare anyone from the view. Why did he not go into an alley...or at least face the building? Too drunk, too tired, probably didn't care anymore. Wow.

Went to Frida's on State for dinner. Ran into Barney. Yummy salsa, yummy guac, yummy margaritas, yummy food. Muy delicioso. I will be back.

I like trying new places in Madison.

I like having more friends in Madison.

I can't get enough Mexican lately. I want it every day.

Watched Big Brother when I got home. Amber is finally gone. Now I don't have to see her cry or talk about people being selfish anymore.